Machine for cleaning vegetable fibers.



Patented Oct. 3|, I899.

M. A. TORRE.

MACHINE FOR CLEANING VEGETABLE FIBERS.

(Application filed June 18, 1899.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT @FFIQE.

MANUEL A. TORRE, OF MERIDA, MEXICO.

-MACH|NE FOR CLEANING VEGETABLE FIBERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters IPatent No. 636,086, dated October 31, 1899.

Application filed June 13, 1899. Serial No. 720,365. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MANUEL A. TORRE, of

Merida, in the State of Yucatan and Republic 7 of Mexico, have invented a new and Improved Machine for Cleaning Vegetable Fibers, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The invention relates to machines for cleaning hemp and similar textile materials, and has for its object to providea simple machine of the above-indicated class, in which a single scraping or scutching wheel is employed.

The invention will be fully described hereinafter and the features of novelty pointed out in the appended claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forminga part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a plan view of the improved machine. Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof with parts in section, and Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail view in sectional elevation.

The machine comprises a casing A, in which is journaled the scutching-wheel B, provided with projections B, to clean the material, said projections passing close to a stationary guard or guide 13*. Above the upper end of the guide is an opening 13 adjacent to which are located two disks 0 O, mounted to rotate about axes D D in planes inclined relatively to each other, said disks converging toward the opening B The disks are in driving en gagement with each other-for instance, by

means of teeth 0 produced on their opposing faces. -One of the disks also has a driving connection, which may consist of a toothed rim O engaged by a pinion E, located upon a shaft E, which is driven by means of gears E E and the pulleys E The shaft D,

with the disk 0 and with the pinion E, is

preferably adjustable vertically by means of a screw F.

Each of the disks is provided on its periphe'ry with grooves 0 The grooves of'the upper disk are adapted to be engaged by belts or ropes G, which pass around more than one-half of the circumference of the said disk 0 and also engage a guide-pulley H, as well as a tension-pulley I, adjustable in any wellknown manner. The grooves of the lower disk 0 are similarly engaged by ropes or belts G, engaging the pulley H and the tension-pulley I. The scutching -whee1 B is driven by means of asuitable pulley B The guard or guide B has a projection 13 (see Fig. 3,) which extends close to the periphery of the lower disk 0, the top of said disk, however, being-above the upper end of the said projection. The disks 0 O obviously rotate in the same direction, causing the belts or ropes G G to travel in the direction indicated by the arrows in Fig. 1, and the pulleys H H are so arranged that the belt G engages its disk 0 at approximately the same vertical plane at which the belt G leaves the disk 0.

The operation of the machine is as follows: The material by means of a hopper or other suitable contrivance (not shown upon the drawings) is fed into the space between the belts or ropes G and the upper disk 0 at the point indicated by the letter a. A table T is provided at that point to properly support the material. between the belt and the periphery of the disk 0 are obviously taken along by the belt and disk, and as they hang down arelatively considerable distance below said disk they enter the space between the scutching-wheel B and the guide B as illustrated atb in Fig. 3. The depending portions of the leaves are thus subjected to the cleaning action of the scutching-wheel and are thereupon by the further revolution of the disk 0 withdrawn from the space between the guide B and the scutching-wheel B and are carried toward the point 0, at which the belt G engages the lower disk 0'. It will be obvious that as the material hangs down low enough from the upper disk to engage the periphery of the lower disk (see Fig. 2) the belts G will clamp the material between the disk 0 and the belt, and as soon as the upper belt G releases the material, as at d, the upper portion of the leaves will naturally fall down into substantially the position indicated at c in Fig. 3. This depending portion (which originally was the upper portion of the material) is now brought by the lower disk into operative re lation to the scutching-wheel B, as shown in Fig. 3, and is then treated in the same manner as the lower portion of the material has been previously treated. The waste is delivered at the bottom of the guide B to the The leaves becoming caught outlet f, while the cleaned leaves escape from the lower disk 0 at'the point where the belt G leaves the said disk 0.

It will be noticed that the scutching-wheel is caused to operate first on the lower part of the leaves and then on the upper part thereof and that the disks C C and belts G G are so arranged'as to allow said upper and lower portions of the leaves to be brought successively into the path of the scutching-wheel.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The combination of the scutching-wheel, the peripherally-grooved disks arranged with their peripheries in approximate registry, and flexible connections such as belts, engaging said grooves to hold the material, substantially as described.

2. The combination of a scutching-wheel, the rotary disks arranged at an angle to each other, with their peripheriesin approximate registry, and flexible connections such as belts, engaging the disks at their peripheries and adapted to hold the material against them, said belts engaging the disks at only a portion of theirperipheries so as to release the material at a predetermined point, substantially as described.

3. The combination of the scutching-wheel, the rotary disks con verging toward the sou tching-wheel, and flexible connections, such as belts, engaging the disks at their peripheries, substantially as described.

t. The combination of the scutching-whcel,

the superposed rotary disks arranged with their entire peripheries in approximate registry, and flexible connections, such as belts, engaging the disks at a portion of their periphery, the point at which the belt leaves one disk to release the material corresponding in location to the point at which the belt engages the other disk to seize the material, substantially as described.

5. The combination of a scutching-wheel, the rotary disks arranged at an angle to each other, with their peripheries in approximate registry, and flexible connections such as belts, engaging the rotary disks at their converging portions,while leaving them free upon a section of their diverging portions, the point at which the belt leaves one disk to release the material being located correspondingly to the point at which the belt en gages the inatin g disk to seize the material, substantially as described.

6. The combination of a scutching-wheel and the guide having a projection at its upper end, the upper and lower disk located adjacent to said guide with the top of the lower disk located above the upper edge of the guide, and means surrounding the disks partly for pressing, the material against the peripheral or cylindrical surface of the disks, substantially as described.

MANUEL A. TORRE.

lVitnesses:

JOHN LOTKA, EVERARD BOLTON MARsHALL. 

